Small Sets with Large Difference Sets

Abstract: For every

e p s i l o n > 0

and

k i n m a t h b b N

, Haight constructed a set

A s u b s e t m a t h b b Z_{N}

(

m a t h b b Z_{N}

stands for the integers modulo

N

) for a suitable

N

, such that

A - A = m a t h b b Z_{N}

and

| k A | < e p s i l o n N

. Recently, Nathanson posed the problem of constructing sets

A s u b s e t m a t h b b Z_{N}

for given polynomials

p

and

q

, such that

p (A) = m a t h b b Z_{N}

and

| q (A) | < e p s i l o n N

, where

p (A)

is the set

p (a_{1}, a_{2}, d o t s, a_{n}) p h a n t o m . c o l o n p h a n t o m . a_{1}, a_{2}, d o t s, a_{n} i n A

, when

p

has

n

variables. In this paper, we give a partial answer to Nathanson's question. For every

k i n m a t h b b N

and

e p s i l o n > 0

, we find a set

A s u b s e t m a t h b b Z_{N}

for suitable

N

, such that

A - A = m a t h b b Z_{N}

, but

| A^{2} + k A | < e p s i l o n N

, where

A^{2} + k A = a_{1} a_{2} + b_{1} + b_{2} + d o t s + b_{k} p h a n t o m . c o l o n p h a n t o m . a_{1}, a_{2}, b_{1}, d o t s, b_{k} i n A

. We also extend this result to construct, for every

k i n m a t h b b N

and

e p s i l o n > 0

, a set

A s u b s e t m a t h b b Z_{N}

for suitable

N

, such that

A - A = m a t h b b Z_{N}

, but

| 3 A^{2} + k A | < e p s i l o n N

, where

3 A^{2} + k A = a_{1} a_{2} + a_{3} a_{4} + a_{5} a_{6} + b_{1} + b_{2} + d o t s + b_{k} p h a n t o m . c o l o n p h a n t o m . a_{1}, d o t s, a_{6}, b_{1}, d o t s, b_{k} i n A

.

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